


Better Off With You

by AugustClown



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-06
Updated: 2018-07-06
Packaged: 2019-06-06 09:20:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15191684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustClown/pseuds/AugustClown
Summary: Hawke and Isabela have a long overdue talk. Occurs in Act III





	Better Off With You

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly canon-divergent (basically eliminates the need for Questioning Beliefs) and dialogue-divergent. Occurs right before the group goes after Castillon in No Rest for the Wicked.

Hawke walks into her estate, looking slightly amused when she spots Isabela rummaging through her letters on her desk. Even after three years of Isabela being gone, some things don’t change. But only some.

“Oh, look who’s here! Time to change the locks again.”

Isabela smirks, but does not turn around. “I knocked this time. Bodahn let me in. Guess what? Castillon’s in town, and I’m not waiting around for him to stick a knife in my vitals.” She turns and walks towards Hawke.

Hawke, wanting some distance from the woman who suddenly re-entered her life, moves to make some distance between them.

“We’re going to get him before he gets me,” Isabela finishes resolutely.

Taken aback by Isabela’s firm attitude, Hawke jokingly responds, “We’re going to surprise Castillon? I love surprises. My favorite surprise by far is when you appeared back into my life after three years. Three years of no letters, no word about where you were or even if you were alive.”

Now it’s Isabela’s turn to be surprised, “Hawke, we can talk about this later. Right now, we should go back to focusing on Castillon.”

Hawke scoffs, “Oh no, you can stop right there. You know I will help you out. No, we need to talk about this first. Castillon can wait a little longer.”

Isabela huffs and turns her back to Hawke, “Fine. What is it do you wish to talk about?”

Distance be damned, Hawke strides up to Isabela, places a hand on her shoulder, and forces the rogue to face her, “I want to know how you think you can just come back into my life after being gone for so long. I dueled the Arishok for you! And how did you thank me? By leaving without a second thought!”

“I was trying to protect you! You were clearly better off without me! You got injured protecting me!”

Hawke turns around, laughs, walks a little bit to ground herself, before turning back to face Isabela. This damned woman. How does she not understand by now?

“Better off? You think I was better off without you these past three years? I spent a good part of the first year drunk off my ass every night, crying to Varric about how much I missed you. How much I loved you. After that, I figured you weren’t coming back, so I tried to move on. But every man, every woman couldn’t hold a candle to you. So, I did whatever else I could to get my mind off of you. I got into reckless fights weekly. I continued to steal, not caring about who I stole from or what it was. I actually spent a few months in jail; even Aveline grew tired of the chaos I was causing, regardless of my ‘Champion’ status. And now, here you are, three years later, wanting me to handle some more shit of yours without a second thought about my feelings. You just got back! Let a woman process for a little bit before I jump head first into yet another dangerous task for you.”

Isabela froze. Loved me, she thinks, Hawke loved me?

“You loved me?”

“Andraste’s tits Isabela, of course I bloody loved you! I still do. And I get it, you know? I get you don’t do love, that what we had was just a no feelings attached arrangement. But guess what? I fell for you anyways. And it’s about high time you know it. If you’re going to remain a part of this group, you will do so knowing that you hold my heart and that you broke it. You have to piece it back together again. Think you can do that?”

Isabela hesitates, looking into the deep brown eyes of the mage, her mage, and seeing the fires of passion roaring through them.

“I don’t know Hawke,” she finally mumbles, “that’s a lot of pressure.”

“Yes, it is. But don’t you feel something for me too? I mean, why else did you come back? We could have stopped Castillon without you. Aveline would have gained word of his presence sooner or later.”

“I came back because I missed you! And maybe, just maybe, I might feel something for you too. I ran because I was scared of my feelings, but I came back because it’s you Hawke. It’s you and I’m falling for you! I kept falling for you even when I was away from you. You said you couldn’t move on with someone else? Well guess what? Me neither! And how the fuck do you think I feel? I mean, it’s me! Sex and lust? I can do that no problem.”

Isabela is also getting heated now, and emotion enters her voice unwilled and unburden, “But then somewhere along the road, what we had became something unbearable to me. There were so many feelings I was not used to. I was scared of those feelings. After the duel with the Arishok, I saw that as the best opportunity to flee. I thought I was saving you from my problems, but I mostly thought I was saving myself from falling for you. That didn’t stop my heart from continuing to fall for you anyways. I stayed away for so long because I was scared. I still am. But three years was too much time away from you.”

Somewhere in the middle of her monologue, Isabela walked forward until she was mere inches away from Hawke. Hawke takes a deep breath and releases it on a shaky sigh. So, this is it, she thinks, the truth is finally out there.

Hawke smiles, that surefire, cocky smile she uses to break a tense situation, “See, that wasn’t so hard was it? Thank you for finally confirming my suspicions out loud.”

Isabela barks out a laugh, the tears that were in her eyes falling down her face, “You knew! You feisty tart! You made me go through all of that just to get me to admit I was falling for you, but you already knew! So why did you do it?”

Hawke steps closer to Isabela and begins to thumb the tears away, “I only sort of knew. I needed you to tell me to confirm my suspicions. And maybe, I wanted you to admit it to yourself as well. I was, and still am a little, upset that you just thought it was okay to waltz back into my life with no warning. But mostly, I just wanted to get these feelings out in the open. I’ve spent too much time hiding my emotions from you because I know you don’t do commitment. The battle with the Arishok and the time spent afterwards really taught me that I shouldn’t hold back these feelings anymore. Anything could happen, and you should know how I feel. Knowing how you feel is just a sweet bonus.”

Isabela laughs again and rolls her eyes before shameless roving them over Hawke’s body. Even after three years, her body still looks amazing. Hawke notices and her smile widens.

Isabela says, “Well, now that that’s out of the way, how about I go back to telling you my plan on how we take down Castillon?”

Hawke replies, “Sounds good, but there’s something I must do first.”

And with that, Hawke closes the remaining distance and kisses Isabela. Yes, there’s still stuff for them to take care of, such as Castillon and the brewing civil war between Meredith and Orsino. But this? This is enough to get Hawke through, even if it is for a little while.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, all mistakes are my own. Say hi to me on tumblr: @issuesofthesoul


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